Palm Beach Towers condo association not involved in utilities lawsuit

William Kelly @pbtownreporter

Monday

Aug 7, 2017 at 12:01 AMAug 7, 2017 at 8:21 PM

The Palm Beach Towers Condominium Association says it is not involved in a lawsuit filed by the owner of a unit in the building to oppose assessments to pay for burying all overhead utilities on the island.

The class-action lawsuit was filed last week in Palm Beach Circuit Court on behalf of PBT Real Estate LLC, based at the Towers building at 44 Cocoanut Row. The suit contends owners of the 273 units at the Palm Beach Towers should not have to pay assessments for the project because the Towers’ utility system is fully underground.

In a letter Monday to the newspaper’s editors, Joseph Fuchs, president of the Towers’ board of directors, wrote the suit "is undertaken as an individual action that in no way involves the Palm Beach Towers Condominium Association."

The condominium association is not involved or affiliated with PBT Real Estate LLC and "disavows any implication that by name association we in any way support or approve of the individual’s legal action," Fuchs wrote.

Asked about the Towers board’s position on town-wide undergrounding, Fuchs said, "As a matter of board policy, we have not taken any official stand. We have a large population and people feel different ways and can vote as they see fit."

The town is imposing annual assessments beginning in November for 30 years to finance the town-wide project, estimated to cost about $90 million. The town has said certain neighborhoods or buildings, such as Everglades Island and Lake Towers, won’t be assessed for the town-wide project because they already have buried their utilities, including the distribution line that serves their building or neighborhood.

Town Manager Tom Bradford and Underground Utilities Coordinator Steven Stern could not be immediately reached to say why Palm Beach Towers units are being assessed.

PBT Real Estate’s was the second lawsuit challenging the assessments since the Town Council voted in July to impose them. The first was filed by North End resident Michael Scharf and South End resident Carol Kosberg.